Commercial warewashers commonly include a housing area which defines washing and rinsing zones for dishes, pots pans and other wares. In conveyor-type machines wares are moved through multiple different spray zones within the housing for cleaning (e.g., pre-wash, wash, post-wash (aka power rinse) and rinse zones). One or more of the zones includes a tank in which liquid to be recirculated for spraying is heated in order to achieve desired cleaning.
Machines may also include a drying zone at the end of the ware path for drying wares as they exit the machine using a flow of heated air from a blower dryer. Generally, the blower dryer air temperatures T should be above a minimum threshold temperature Tmin and below a maximum threshold Tmax, where at least Tmin is desired to have the right temperature for drying and no more than Tmax is desired to ensure the wares are not too hot for handling and to avoid putting too much heat into the room. Blowing sufficient air over the wares helps both drying and the sheeting action of the final rinse water with or without rinse aid. Maintaining the air at desired conditions for drying can be difficult, given that some wares require different temperature air and/or air flows and/or air moisture levels for proper drying, while at the same time assuring that the wares exiting the machine are not too hot to the touch and/or that the drying air exiting the machine does not add too much heat to the ambient environment.
It would be desirable to provide a warewasher drying system that is adaptable to different conditions.